Chapter 55

Chapter 55: Differences among Abalones

Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: Desmond

“What a tough job that is! Boss Yuan must have worked so hard trying to find such odd

holidays . ” Strong displeasure could be heard from an irritated voice .

“Let’s do this . Yinyin, you check the internet and see if there is any kind of weird holiday

tomorrow . ” the man instructed after calming down .

The girl who kept checking the holidays turned out to be Yinyin . She then started searching for

the information obediently just like she was told .

After being in a daze for a great while, Vice Division Chief Lee finally came around . He asked

curiously, “Will the boss open the door later? What if he has escaped? I heard the dishes in this

restaurant are fairly expensive . ”

“Newcomers know nothing . With Boss Yuan’s culinary skills, it’s absolutely a waste if he

doesn’t cook . ” In other words, Yuan Zhou was nobody if he was not a chef .

The sentence was incisive and straightforward . Furthermore, many people agreed, nodding

their heads .

Vice Division Chief Lee was finally convinced now . However, since the door wasn’t open yet, he

couldn’t just go back and report that to his superior . Therefore, he asked again, “Will the boss

open the restaurant today?”

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting? It probably won’t be open today . ” the man’s answer

was quite interesting . He first scorned Vice Division Chief Lee’s question, but the later part of

his answer wasn’t certain as well . It seemed he also wished for the restaurant to be open today .

Vice Division Chief Lee couldn’t just stand here waiting the whole day . He thought for a while

and decided to come for an inspection tomorrow morning, then give a more accurate report to

his superior .

“I got it . I have searched quite a few times,” Yinyin said with an affirmative tone .

“So? Any other holidays tomorrow?” the man asked in a low voice .

“No, there won’t be any more odd holidays tomorrow . ” With the way Yinyin spoke while

gasping for breath, the people around would have strangled her if she wasn’t a girl .

“That’s great . With no holidays, let me see what excuse Boss Yuan can provide . ” Hearing the

good news, several people sighed in relieve . Afterward, they dispersed in twos and threes,

preparing to come again tomorrow .

It turned out that they were still much too naïve . For the third day, Yuan Zhou took another

approach in sticking the A4 paper on the wall . Therefore, Wu Hai, who had not gotten a decent

meal these past two days, still didn’t manage to catch Yuan Zhou . The method used this time

was simple and brutal .

Yuan Zhou just set his alarm clock to 2:00 a . m, then after getting up, he walked out to the front

door secretly .

Who had ever admired the sky of Chengdu at 2 before dawn? At least before that day, Yuan Zhou

hadn’t ever seen that . Now he could gaze at the sky to his heart’s content .

In the darkness of the night, the surroundings emitted a biting chill . The street lamps sparkled

dimly along the road, giving off an indescribable atmosphere . Yuan Zhou had wore a jacket

specifically, thus didn’t feel cool at all .

“Whoops! You really scared me . ” Instantly, Yuan Zhou’s voice resounded across the empty

street .

It was a dog lying prone at the entrance that frightened Yuan Zhou . Those glittering eyes in the

dark surroundings formed a huge contrast . Even Yuan Zhou, that was usually courageous, was

greatly startled .

The dog raised his head, glancing at Yuan Zhou, then lay back down, without making the

slightest sound .

Yuan Zhou approached the dog and discovered it was the Maltese with mixed hair colors, which

he fed with broth every day . It was lying still in the dark night with its shiny black eyes gazing

around on high alert as if it were protecting something .

“What are you lying there for? Go to your own place . ” Yuan Zhou clearly knew the restaurant

was very safe and didn’t need any guarding . Nevertheless, he was still happy to see that scene .

He had never expected anything back from one he helped . Of course, if there was, he would be

happy as well .

The Maltese turned its head back and looked at Yuan Zhou, with its distinctive style . It then

continued to guard the restaurant alertly, ignoring Yuan Zhou .

“All right . You can sleep wherever you want . ” Realizing that the dog wouldn’t obey him, he

shrugged and stuck the notice onto the door . Wearing a pair of slippers, he then went back to

his own bedroom with a swagger, preparing to get more sleep .

Without Yuan Zhou’s knowledge, the Maltese had been guarding the restaurant for many

nights already .

The sky lit up with the morning rays of the sun . It was another sunny day . Having agreed

beforehand to go together, several regular customers were walking towards the restaurant .

When they saw a slip of paper pasted at a conspicuous place on the front door from a distance,

they suddenly had a bad premonition, thus they ran up to check the content hurriedly .

“Can this damn unbelievable reason also be used?”

“I will definitely kneel down to the talented boss,” said a man called Ye Liangchen .

“I really admire his talent . ” After finishing that sentence, another man turned and left .

“The boss always acts pretty cool . I’m convinced of that now . If possible, I wish I could hit him .

Of course, I will not hit his hand and face . ” It’s quite a logical and reasonable statement .

After all, if Boss Yuan’s hands got hurt, he wouldn’t be able to cook anymore .

Notice, “I’m not happy today as I didn’t manage to find a holiday . So I declare today as a rest

day to overcome my bad mood . However, the restaurant will be open for business tomorrow . ”

The signature was still from Yuan Zhou .

This time, there was no customer waiting at the entrance anymore . It looked as same as other

closed restaurants .

Having rushed over here hurriedly, Vice Division Chief Lee once again encountered a closed

restaurant . This time, there wasn’t even a customer waiting outside, only the lonely notice

being left pasted on the door . He got really angry when he took a look at the contents of the

notice .

“How could a mere tiny restaurant dare to be so capricious?” He had much to grumble about to

his boss on the way back .

As he didn’t even manage to enter the restaurant, Vice Division Chief Lee had nothing to report

to his superior . Therefore, he could only head there again on the next day . Fortunately, the

notice said that the restaurant would be opened tomorrow .

Change is the only constant in this world . At that moment, the Division Chief sent someone to

inform him, “The Division Chief has something to talk with you . ”

“All right . I’ll be there right away . ” Vice Division Chief Lee could only helplessly agree .

“Dong Dong”

The knocks interrupted the Division Chief’s line of thought while editing documents . He then

sat upright and said, “Come in . ”

“Division Chief, I’m sorry . That restaurant has been closed for three days . I don’t know what

happened either . ” Once Vice Division Chief Lee entered the office, he first gave an apology and

then explained carefully .

“So, many people are giving high praise concerning the culinary skills of that chef? The Division

Chief asked with interest .

“Yes, they do . The problem is that the boss seems quite absurd . ” No doubt, there was discontent

in the Vice Division Chief Lee’s remarks .

“If the chef has such superb culinary skill as described by those people, it would be

understandable . ” the Division Chief said with a smile .

However, Vice Division Chief Lee didn’t think that way . He just stayed silent as there was no

way for him to refute his superior face to face .

“Ok . After getting off work tomorrow, let’s go to the restaurant again . ” The Division Chief was

fairly curious about the 30-square-meter restaurant that needed to pay such a hefty amount of

tax . Furthermore, the boss was known to be a strange person . He felt that these were sufficient

reasons for him to go for an inspection himself, no matter for his own curiosity or for official

business .

For the past two days, Yuan Zhou had been spending money to taste various dishes . He had

gained quite a lot from those experiences . Some restaurants didn’t have the top quality

ingredients that he had access to, but they still insist on using the freshest ingredients .

For example, there was a steamed bun store in a residential area . It was open for only 4 hours

per day; furthermore, the price was twice of other restaurants . Yet, all their steamed buns were

sold out every day . Many people even came back to ask for more .

Yuan Zhou failed to buy one the first time . All the steamed buns were sold out just when it

reached his turn . By the way, that store only sold buns with meat fillings, no other fillings were

available .

During his second try, Yuan Zhou managed to buy one . He then understood the reason why the

store was opened only for 4 hours . It was to prepare clean ingredients . The boss had done

everything he could to maintain the cleanliness along with obtaining the freshest ingredients .

However, the taste couldn’t be said to be on par with those delicacies .

Yuan Zhou heard of another famous old restaurant this time . Its specialty dish was wild

abalones . Each customer could only be served a limited amount for each meal . It was said to be

incomparably fresh and delicate, thus Yuan Zhou followed its reputation and came here to taste

it .